Identical Darkness
by InterdimensionalHitchhiker84
Summary: All Harry wanted was a different life-a life where he would be spared all the pain and death that surrounded him every second of his. He didn't bargain for this though. Sent back in time, Harry gets a new set of parents and a twin. Unfortunately, that twin is destined to be as dark as they come and goes by the name Barty Crouch Junior. Will Harry follow his brother into darkness?
1. Chapter 1

_This came as a result from another prompt from Cap J Harkness and is based off of a challenge that will be at the end of this chapter. Not my usual kind of story, but I figured I'd give it a shot._

_Disclaimer: Not mine._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Harry didn't know what he was saying or doing. He only felt two things: a complete and overwhelming sense of loss and horror and a burning rage and need to fill the newly torn hole inside of him. Ripping away from whatever or whoever was holding him back, he followed his instincts, only one thought on his mind. He had to kill the woman who killed his godfather. He had to avenge Sirius and make that death eater pay.

He ran up the steps and burst through doors and rooms, following the glimpses of the black robes trailing behind his target. And then the door in front of him was slammed in his face, literally hitting his nose and knocking him backwards. He fell to the floor with a painful and jarring thump and scrambled back to his feet, seeing red. He pulled angrily at the door, trying to force his way through, but the door held. The other doors in the room were shut just as securely and flinging curses and spells at them didn't help at all.

Harry let out a gut-wrenching scream and a wail and streams of loud profanities. Burning tears streaked down his red face, leaving tracks of numbing ice behind them and he yelled.

He screamed and cried and bellowed at the universe and at God and at the death eaters and Voldemort. He pleaded with Sirius to not be gone—to come back—and he cursed loudly when his wishes didn't come true. He slung curses around the room where they bounced off walls and shattered shelves, whatever occupied them falling to the floor.

He spun around in a blind madness until he tripped and fell, sobbing loudly, into a pile of shimmering powder and broken glass. The pieces of glass and metal cut into him and he whimpered as he lay on the ground, nearly immobilized by physical and magical exhaustion. His throat had never been so raw and painful. Even taking in air left him whining in agony.

In one last burst of what was now nonexistent energy, Harry scooped up and handful of the powder and fragmented glass and hurled it across the room. "I don't want this life!" he shouted. "I don't want it! Take back this fucking awful life you gave me and give me a new one, damnit!"

The glass pieces hit several objects, causing them to topple to the floor and shatter. One of the objects exploded, creating a shock-wave that sent everything on the floor several inches into the air. The room began to spin in one direction while the powder and broken things swirled in another. Harry squeezed his eyes shut and curled in on himself as he twisted above the floor.

And, too blinded by pain and anger to even recognize what was happening, harry fell through a portal of his own unintentional making.

His clothing and then his skin were peeled from his body. His muscles and organs and bones began to rip apart and dissolve in the vortex. A trail of black smoke let out a screech and was pulled away from what was left of him. And in a truly undeterminable amount of time, all that was left of the fifteen-year-old Harry James Potter was a miniscule spec of golden, glowing magic.

~**oo**~

At 2:47 am somewhere in Europe, on Thursday, July 27, 1961, Mrs. Karen Crouch gasped in pain and sat straight up in bed, pulling the covers up and off of her husband. The movement woke him and he rolled over to face her.

"What's wrong, love?"

The pain faded as she breathed deeply but a gentle throbbing remained.

With unshed tears in her eyes and fear evident in her face, she turned to look at Barty. "The baby," she choked out. "I think there might be something wrong with the baby." The tears fell and splashed against her cheeks as she blinked and sucked in much needed air.

Barty crouch swung out of bed in a heartbeat, worry etched in his features. He circled around to the other side of the bed and knelt on the floor, looking up at his wife. "Are you okay? Do we need to go to St. Mungo's?"

She nodded and he stood quickly, carefully helping her to her feet. She wasn't too far along, but she'd been feeling weak and ill, plagued by difficult and persistent mourning sickness.

"Can you travel by floo?" he asked as he tied her dressing gown for her and lovingly brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face.

"I think so," she said.

Helping his wife through the house to the large fireplace in the living room, Barty did his best not to panic. He grabbed some powder from the mantel and threw it into the newly lit flames. Wrapping his arms tightly around Karen's waist, Barty Pulled her into the green fire with him. "St. Mungo's hospital" he said clearly.

~**oo**~

Karen Crouch leaned back against the bed, shaking in anticipation as the healer performed diagnostic spells.

"Everything looks completely normal and healthy, Mrs. Crouch," the healer said. "Your twins are doing fine. One of them is a little underdeveloped, but he'll soon catch up."

Barty's jaw dropped open in shock as he held his wife's hand. "Twins?" she squeaked.

The healer looked back and forth between their shocked faces. "Yes, ma'am." There was a note of question in his voice.

"We aren't having twins, healer," Barty finally managed to say.

"Of course you are." The healer just looked a bit confused now.

"We weren't having twins when we came in here last week."

"Hmm... well that's odd, for sure, but I'm sure it was just an honest mistake, sir. You're definitely going to be the proud parents of two baby boys sometime in February."

~**oo**~

February 9th, 1962, Karen screamed out in pain as she gripped the front of her husband's robes.

Fear sparked in his eyes as he attempted to comfort her. "Just step in, dear."

"Bartemius Tymetrius Crouch, if you try to put me in that fire I will not speak to you for weeks!" He gulped and held out his hands appeasingly. "Do not touch me, Barty!"

"It's the only way, dear! Apparating is too dangerous and a portkey isn't even an option. The healers said you had to be in the hospital for this birth, Karen. You have to go in the floo." He pleaded with her to see reason but only as another painful contraction hit did she begin to listen.

Tears leaked from her eyes as the after-effects of the pain tore through her and she collapsed heavily, Barty only barely managing to catch her. Whispering comforting words while silently praising the heavens for softening her anger, he brought her over to the fire. It was with a sense of great relief that he said "St. Mungo's hospital" and they were pulled through the network.

When they stepped out of the flames and into the lobby, Karen's anger was back in full force and as she slapped him across the face, Barty prayed for his and the healers' safety.

~**oo**~

The first thing the healers did was numb the pain, but it didn't seem to be enough. As they encouraged her to push, she screamed profanities that Barty had never even heard of before. Lamps exploded with the force of her raging magic and healers lost chunks of their hair from the force of her grip as soon as they got too close to her.

Barty stayed well away.

It was a relief to all involved when a roar from Karen gave way to the cry of a babe. The moment was short-lived though, as the child was handed to Barty and Karen was swiftly instructed to push again. When the second boy arrived, looking completely identical to the first, Karen smiled and fell back against the bed, unconscious.

**~oo~**

When Karen Crouch was finally roused, she was handed one of her two children and she smiled contentedly.

"What are their names?" a healer's assistant asked.

"The eldest will be named Bartemius," Karen said quickly. They'd already discussed that. She looked down at the son in her arms and smiled. "Harry," she said. "I want to name this one Harry."

The healer left the room scribbling down the children's full names: Bartemius Isaac Crouch and Harrison Caspar Crouch.

* * *

_This may remain as a one-shot. I have nearly a page for the next chapter, but my heart isn't entirely in it, so we'll see. Reviews are highly motivational though. :)_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_

Darkness Melds With Light-HP and Barty Challenge:

What it should look like:

1)Harry/BartyJr (Mentor/Student)

2)Harry/BartyJr (Slash)

3)Harry/BartyJr (Father/Son(biological))

4)Harry/BartyJr (Brothers(preferably twins))

Requirements:

1)Either Dark!Harry or Redeemed!Barty

2)No crossovers

3)Regular updates (not less than once a month)

4)Not abandoned

5)Good spelling and grammar

_Once again, this challenge is from Cap J Harkness and all questions should be directed there._


	2. Chapter 2

_I apologize for the long wait and the short chapter, dear readers. My muse is short with this story. If you'd like to adopt it, please feel free; just send me a message if you do._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Both boys grew happy and healthy, developing a language all their own as twins were wont to do and then slowly developing more conventional language skills afterwards. They walked and talked and ran around, chasing after one another in fits of joyous giggles. They often spent large amounts of time together, tucked up out of sight of their parents and this continued all through their primary years. Karen taught young Barty and Harry to read and write and then to do basic arithmetic and understand basic scientific concepts like gravity. It wasn't too long before both intelligent boys were learning simple algebra and British History.

Karen was more proud of them than she could say and smiled at every one of their small achievements. It brought a laugh to her throat whenever they completed each other's sentences or seemed to read each other's thoughts.

Barty Sr may have been a distant father, but he always cared and did his best for them. Work got more and more absorbing as time went on though, and he spent less and less time with his family. It almost seemed as if the twins sometimes didn't even have a father.

It was all too soon when the pair turned eleven and when the set of matching Hogwarts acceptance letters came that summer, it hit Karen hard how fast her children had grown. It pained her deeply that she was unable to have any more, but those two were enough. They were all she ever could have hoped for.

When those two young wizards hoped onto that train and waved goodbye to their mum, tears streamed down her face. They were so grown up.

~~o~~

Harry got the weirdest sense of de ja vou as he walked with his twin down the isle of the train and poked their heads into carriages, but he shrugged it off. Soon, they were sitting comfortably in a compartment with John Peters, whose dad was a farmer up in the hills, and Lenus (Lennie) McDee, whose parents worked at the Ministry. The boys talked to a few other kids who poked their heads into the compartment during the trip, played exploding snap, and ate their packed lunches plus some treats from the cart. Harry had a really strange desire to buy armfuls of candy and spread it around, but he didn't have the money, so he settled for the couple of pieces that his mum had approved.

When it started getting dark, all four boys changed into their school robes and got jumpy waiting to arrive. Harry's stomach let out a large growl and everyone laughed as he grinned happily, pushing his blonde hair back away from his face to reveal a slight blush. He giggled along with them and squealed happily as the conductor finally announced that the train would be slowing and reaching their destination in five minutes.

The corridors were crowded, but they couldn't help wanting to be out in the main part of things as they jumped up and down amongst the much taller students and waited.

When an enormous young man with a beard and a lantern yelled out "Firs' years this way!" Harry ran towards him eagerly and slipped in a mud puddle. Barty doubled over laughing and Harry reached up to grab his sleeve, pulling him down too. Barty landed in the mud right next to Harry with a high-pitched squeal and a splat and John and Lennie laughed at them from a safe distance, holding onto each other for support as they struggled for breath through the relentless case of giggles.

They all piled into one boat and as the mud-streaked twins shoved each other around happily, Lennie got pushed off the side. Luckily, John and Harry caught his foot and hauled him back up, but he was soaking wet and shivering. They all thought it was hilarious.

When they were led into the castle and then into an empty classroom by Professor McGonagall, everyone stared at the muddy and soaking wet group of giggling boys. John decided that he didn't want any more of the mud and water on him, so, still smiling broadly, he walked off to talk to a couple of girls on the other side of the room that he hadn't seen in a few weeks.

When the group was led into the great hall and they all stood before a stool with an old hat, Harry's laughter finally stopped and he stared at it. It took an elbow to his ribs from Barty for him to look away. When asked, he had no idea why it fascinated him so much.

The ceremony started when "Aberdeen, Clint" was called up and the twins waited anxiously to see where the kid whose ears were five sizes too big was going to go. As it turned out, he was a Ravenclaw. No doubt that in a few years, he'd have ridiculous glasses perched on those enormous ears. Harry was bouncing up and down on his muddy toes and biting his lip when the professor called out "Crouch, Bartemius." He grinned encouragingly as his brother jumped at hearing his name and pushed Barty out towards the stool.

A few tense seconds later, the hat shouted "Hufflepuff!"

And then it was Harry's turn. "Crouch, Harrison," Professor McGonagall said.

Harry hurried out to the stool and seized the hat to drop it down over his head as he sat, still bouncing slightly on the seat and fidgeting.

'Could you stop moving, please,' a voice said in his mind. Harry froze, biting down on his lip harder than he had been before. 'This is...odd.'

'What is?' Harry thought as loudly as he could.

'Don't shout. You seem to be... I'm not sure. It's almost as if your existence is a contradiction. Odd.' Harry frowned. 'Although really, completely irrelevant. You could to well in Slytherin—very motivated and cunning. Clever too. Very intelligent.' Harry was smiling nervously now. 'Also very brave. Braver than your brother. Gryffindor could be a good home. Ravenclaw suits you more, though. Your loyalty, however, shines through above everything. It looks unlikely that you'd get on very well without your twin.' Harry nodded. 'But that contradiction... I would love to know more about that... Oh well... Any chance you could come up an see me sometime?' Harry scrunched up his face in confusion at the hat sighed. 'It's just that you're so gloriously, oddly, entrancingly...wrong!' And then before Harry could think of a response to that, the hat shouted.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

His frown faded as he jumped from the stool and ran down to join Barty, but the words echoed around in his head all night. _"You're so—WRONG! WRONG! Wrong! Wrong...wrong...wrong... So wrong..."_ He just couldn't shake those words out of his thoughts or put off the shivery shaking feeling that came with them. So, as he went to sleep in the perfectly comfortable warm bed and drifted off to sleep, a full stomach lulling him into unconsciousness, his dreams formed around those words and those feelings and nightmares plagued him.

The nightmares had him tossing and turning and mumbling and whimpering all night. His head was filled with swirling dust and rips in time and screaming and pain and hurt and horror and death and that horrible echoing word: "WRONG!" When he woke up with his brother (who had obviously heard him and changed beds to comfort him as he'd always done when Harry had nightmares) curled up beside him, despite the shaking, he found he couldn't remember them.

* * *

_Please, tell me what you think of it in a review!_

_Thanks for reading!_

_-MP_


End file.
